Didn't Mean To Play Hero
by Arya Daeriel
Summary: Will did not mean to play the hero, he didn't mean to put his life on the line. Yet he did anyway, he saved the Emperor of Nihon-Ja, who in his mind was much more important than himself. Spoilers for the Emperor of Nihon-Ja! You have been warned!
1. An Arrow and a Ranger

**Disclaimer: Don't own, never have, never will.**

**A/N: *sighs sadly* Well, I finished it. I got the Emperor of Nhon-Ja today, well, yesterday now, and finished it two minutes before midnight. And even though there's going to be two more books, it still feels like it's over. Because for those of you that don't know, the next book is going to be a book of short stories and the last book will take place 20 years later. I feel like this is the end of Ranger's Apprentice. Now i'd better stop before I start crying again. Anywho, I read this little part in the book and really just couldn't resist. Mostly because I have now waited through TEN KRIFFING BOOKS for Will to get injured, just to be disappointed yet again.**

_Will saw the first Senshi officer release and instantly knew where the arrow was aimed. "They've spotted Shigeru!" He was about to turn and shove Shigeru to the ground, but as he did so, his eye caught a flicker of movement and he spun back._

The movement came from the arrow which was heading straight towards Shigeru. Without thinking, Will darted forward and pushed the Nihon-Jan out of the way of the sharp missile. However, Will's shove did not remove the ranger from danger. As he stumbled to right himself after pushing Shigeru aside, the arrow originally intended for the emperor struck Will's left shoulder, causing him to fall to the ground.

White hot pain emanated from the wound and down Will's arm. So this was what it was like to be shot. Never in his eight **(1) **years as a ranger, apprenticeship included, had he been shot by an arrow. It was definitely _not _a pleasant experience.

Blood was darkening the shoulder of his green **(2)** tunic as the young ranger used his right hand to push himself to his knees. He heard Shigeru calling out "Halto!" to his former mentor, all formality forgotten. Will staggered to his feet, left arm hanging limply at his side, to see Halt running towards him, but he then looked towards Todoki and saw that four of his lieutenants were preparing to fire.

"Halt!" he called out, alerting him to the enemy's actions. Seeing the threat, Halt fired off four arrows, one after another, each sinking into Todoki's men's armor.

With the threat gone, Halt hurried to Will's side, steadying his old apprentice as he swayed from loss of blood.

"Are you alright?" he asked, the worry evident in his voice.

"Aside from the the fact that I have an arrow in my shoulder? I'm dandy," Will replied from between gritted teeth.

"Then you should remember to stay out of the way of arrows," Halt said turning Will around so he could take a look at the wound.

"This is the first time!" Will said indignantly then yelped in pain when Halt touched the shaft, making it move. He turned back around to face Halt. "We can deal with the arrow later anyway, the battle doesn't stop because a ranger gets shot."

Sure enough, the below them, the Kakori and the Senshi were still fighting, but the Senshi were becoming disorganized, unused to fighting against the target the Kakori presented. When the Kakori's second rank began to move forward, the Senshi simply turned tail and ran.

"As you were saying?" Halt asked, a slight smirk on his face. Meanwhile, the emperor was watching this with slight amusement despite the situation. The two rangers seemed to be able to keep up a banter that would turn countries against each other in the direst of circumstances.

Will scowled and turned around again.

"The arrow needs to be removed before we go anywhere," Halt told him, not liking what he had to do next at all.

"Then do it," Will said, clenching his teeth together as another wave of pain came from where the arrow was imbedded in his flesh.

Halt was about to pull out the arrow when Horace finally rejoined them.

"What happen…..?" he started to ask, but trailed off when he saw the arrow in Will's shoulder. It was like seeing George all over again except if Will was George, he would have been unconscious already. Horace realized what he was about to do and internally winced, for he knew that it would not at all be pleasant.

Halt glanced at Horace and nodded in greeting then turned back to Will and said, "On three. One…. two…." Halt yanked the arrow out of the younger ranger's shoulder, eliciting a loud cry of pain. Halt tossed the arrow to the side as Will sank to his knees, breathing heavily, his right hand clutching his shoulder.

He glared at Halt. "What happened to three?"

"If I had pulled it out on three, you would have been too tense because you were expecting it," Halt replied. Will nodded slightly understanding before keeling over sideways, eyes closed and finally unconscious.

Halt knelt down beside him, carefully removing his hand from his shoulder and set about wrapping a strip of his cleaner undershirt around the wound to stem the flow of blood.

Once finished, he stood up and turned to Horace. "I hate to give you satisfaction by saying this, but I'm not as young as I used to be, so would you mind carrying Will back to our tent?"

"Not at all," Horace said, bending down and swinging his friends sleight frame over his shoulder. Before moving off, he turned to the emperor. "You should go and see to your people."

Shigeru, who was already starting off in that direction said, "Call me when he wakes. I need to thank him."

On the ground lay the arrow that had recently been imbedded in the young ranger's soldier. The tip was slick with blood, but underneath that, there could be seen a second substance. One of a poisonous green.

**1) Flanny doesn't actually state how old Will is in each book. I'm guessing he's about twenty-three in this book.**

**2) I'm looking at a picture of Will from the Ranger's Apprentice site and well…his shirt is green.**

**This was originally going to be one long fic, but it's 2:30 am now and I really need to be heading to bed. So instead, this will be split into two or three chapters! Er...scratch that. Plot bunny attacked and turned this fic into something completely different. All the better though because then we's can have more angst! And maybe, possibly, some fluff! **


	2. Luck

**Disclaimer: Don't own, never have, never will. **

**A/N: Update time! I was shocked at the response I got for the first chapter! I had no idea so many people would like it so much! Though I guess a lot of people were disappointed by the fact that Will never ever seems to get hurt in the books. Anywho, onwards to the next chapter! And to see if Will can be saved! **

For all his calmness earlier, Halt was now pacing back and forth in front of the entrance to his and Will's tent. As soon as he and Horace had returned to the fortress, he had called for a healer to tend to Will's shoulder. Now he was waiting for the healer to finish and to relieve his worry, he was pacing.

"You know, Halt, if you keep pacing like that you will wear a hole through the ground and come out back in Araluen!" Horace called from his seat by the fire where he was sharpening the nicks out of his sword. Halt just glared at him, causing the young warrior to be quiet.

Just then, the tent flaps parted and the healer walked out, drying his hands on a cloth.

"Well," the healer started quickly because Halt looked like he would strangle somebody if he waited, "he should be fine within a few weeks. No overexertion though. Meaning, no archery or fighting and preferably, no usage of his left arm until I say so."

Halt nodded, he figured as much. Horace, however, was frowning.

"We are in the middle of what is practically a civil war, Chiryo-shi **(1)**," he said, having known the healer long enough throughout their journey to be on first name terms. "It is highly likely that Will will have to fight before he is fully healed."

"Then it is a good thing that he is right handed," Chiryo-shi responded. "As much as I would love to stay, there are more injured to take care of. I will come back and check on him later."

Halt nodded in thanks for helping Will then waited a moment for the healer to leave before entering the tent. Will was lying on one of the mats with the bottom half of his body covered with a blanket while the top half was left bare. There was a large white bang wrapped around his left shoulder covering the arrow wound.

The grizzled Ranger sat down cross-legged by Will's side. Even though he had not outwardly shown it, he had been shocked when he had seen the arrow protruding from his former apprentice's back. Will had never been hurt like this before. Of course there had been the occasional unavoidable injury, but nothing like this. It seemed as though in the past couple months all those years of luck were catching up with them with him getting poisoned and now Will being shot.

He had had so many years of luck. Nothing had happened since the middle of Gilan's apprenticeship approximately ten years ago.

_~Flashback~_

"Haaaalt," Gilan all but whined, "I really think that they took the other path."

"You're an apprentice, you're not ready to think," Halt replied with the trademark Ranger phrase. "Not to mention the fact that the tracks clearly led in this direction."

"But they also led in the other direction," Gilan pointed out. "One of them was a false trail and we could be heading along the false one."

"Or not. I checked the other trail and it was clearly a fake."

"Then why have the tracks disappeared then?" Gilan pointed at the ground and Halt looked down. They had been following hoof prints that had been indented into the road, but now those prints seemed to have vanished. Halt retraced his steps back a few yards where he found the trail again. It appeared to have just stopped with no sign of continuing in any direction. Even if their quarry had doubled back, they would have left a sign of some sort. Halt then looked at the grassy hillside that ran down both sides of the road. They could, however, have gone sideways.

It was at that moment that Halt heard a swishing sound, the sound of an object flying through the air. Then there was a thud and the Ranger heard his apprentice cry out in pain. Halt jerked his eyes up from the track as quickly as he could to see Gilan staring in shock at the hilt of a short knife that was imbedded in his side.

Halt swore his heart stopped at that moment. Gilan looked down at the knife, as if surprised that it was there. Then he started to topple, eyes rolling back in his head. Halt immediately darted forward and caught the lanky apprentice and lowered him carefully to the ground.

_~End Flashback~_

Now, ten years later, Halt sat at the side of another of his apprentice's who had too been injured. Though the injury was not as serious as it had been with Gilan, it was still a shock. Most of his fellow Ranger's apprentice's had been injured sometime during their apprentice training, but Will never had even though he had been through more than most apprentices. He had somehow had very good luck as an apprentice. Halt just hoped that this was not a sign of his luck starting to run out.

**1) According to Google!Translate, Chiryo-shi means healer in Japanese. **

**Wow….. that was seriously fun to write! I almost screamed with joy when I stabbed Gilan! I've been wanting maim Gil for AGES! And now I've managed to kill two plot bunnies with one stone! And it's 2:30 am and I'm seeing two Doctors where there should only be one, so I'm taking that as a sign that I need to get to bed. Even though it still is a little early for me! Don't forget to review! Reviews feed to plot bunnies so they don't eat me! **


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